Daytona and beyond

Its been clear and cold here in north FLA (30s at night, 50s day) so we've been moving ever southwards. We did make St. Augustine on Sunday, staying in the Salt Run anchorage (ICW mile 777), which was crowded with moored boats but had a great view of the Anastasia Lighthouse (above), a handy park with dock, and no tidal current, which was a nice change. We did have a 1-2 knot head current slowing us most of the day on Sunday.

To avoid more head-current, we got going early Monday and made a short run to Matanzas Inlet (mile 792), anchoring right off Fort Matanzas (below), which is a national monument. The fort was built by Spain in the 1700's to protect against a back-door attack on St Augustine, but the name Matanzas has a gruesome history dating back to 1565. It was a bit tricky getting into the inlet due to shoaling in the ICW there but we got some good advice from another boater and snaked our way in, dropping the big CQR anchor (which we've been using 90% of the time lately due to tidal currents) into a swift current.

We dinghied over to the national monument HQ, where we walked the nature trail boardwalk, and played on a sandy beach. After lunch aboard Spray we snoozed and read in the sun, then some more beach play.

Today we got an early start towards Daytona Beach. This time we had a knot or so of current helping us, and although it was cool, the strong sun coaxed us upstairs to drive from the flying bridge - very pleasant. We made great time and reached Daytona by 1 pm. Riggs was enjoying snoozing in sun so I decided to continue on another 10 miles to our current anchorage in New Smyrna Beach (mile 847). My brother Steve should be impressed that we traveled 55 miles today. Once again we're in strong tidal current, just off the ICW channel. We've already been to shore to empty Riggs and explore downtown. Time to make supper. Tomorrow: an easy 30-mile run down to Titusville FLA.

Christmas in Florida!

Just Barely in Florida... Fernandina Beach is the very first town you hit after crossing the GA-FLA border.

We spent Tuesday night in St. Marys GA (off of ICW mile 712) which is on the St Marys River (duh) which forms the GA-FLA border. Since we anchored in the river, we might have slept exactly on that border. St. Marys is another very nice town, with a waterfront park and nice downtown. Riggs and I had a late lunch on the front deck of a restaurant that made good fish tacos and spectacular hush puppies. We also saw an interesting art gallery full of paintings of Barak Obama, made from various press photos.

Wednesday we had a very short (6 miles) cruise to Fernandina Beach (mile 716), first stopping at Florida Petroleum, which is THE place to load up on marine diesel. Its all they sell and I paid $2.52/gal for 120 gallons, which is 20-30 cents less than any marina around here. By the way, our last fill-up was back in Beaufort NC, more than 500 miles ago, so Spray is maintaining better than 4 mpg, which is great.

After filling the tanks we picked up a rental mooring in front of Fernandina Harbor Marina, and paid for 3 nights stay ($15/night which includes dinghy access, showers, trash and pumpout services). So we stayed in Fernandina Beach through Christmas, which was a good choice. For one thing, we finally saw some warm weather, especially Christmas Eve (Thurs.) which was in the 70's.

Thursday was a day for walking. Riggs and I walked through downtown where we found much of interest (see photo), then across the barrier island (2 miles) to the beach on the Atlantic where we walked and played chuck-it, then 2 miles back to Spray where I parked a (hopefully) tired Riggs.

Then I took off and walked 2 miles to the local multiplex and saw a matinee showing of Avatar3D, which was very cool (plus I got a free pair of sunglasses!), and then back to Spray, with a detour to a pet 'bakery' for a little last-minute shopping.

Christmas was nice and quiet. We walked through the town which was deserted and peaceful, and had a feast aboard Spray (used 2 pots!). This morning the weather had shifted back to cold (50's) so we filled the water tank, emptied the holding tank, and cruised 25 miles south to anchor just north of the St. Johns River. We are technically in Jacksonville at a place called Sisters Creek (mile 739).

Tomorrow we'll get an early start and should reach St. Augustine.

The souther we get, the colder it feels!

Its not the people who are cold, its the weather. I know it is getting to be late December, but we're within spitting distance of Florida (assuming you can spit 25 miles), and its been in the 30's at night and tops out in the mid 50's in the afternoon. Its been plenty of incentive to keep moving south.

Riggs and I left Charleston (ICW mile 470) last Wednesday (as caught on video by Jeff Siegel here: http://takingpaws.blogspot.com/2009/12/bills-departure.html ) and spent the night in Mosquito Creek (mile 513), at the microscopic town of Bennetts Point SC. One thing we look for at an anchorage is some shore access for Riggs, and this is often in the form of a boat ramp with a dock we can tie the dinghy to. Riggs can then chase the tennis ball in the boat trailer parking area, if there is no better option. We did that, and Riggs met some local pooches, and we walked around a bit.

Thursday we continued on to beautiful Beaufort SC (important to pronounce it 'bew-fert') at ICW mile 536, and found several boats anchored there. A tour of the town explained why: very boater friendly with a nice waterfront park and free dinghy dock. The downtown boasts many restaurants and those along the waterfront have outdoor dining where dogs are allowed, so Riggs and I shared our 3rd restaurant meal of the trip. We had a 2-hour walk around town, and even found a marine store that stocked fuel filters for Spray's diesel. I thought of staying 2 nights in Beaufort, but a big rainstorm was predicted for the next day. Spray is actually pretty comfortable to drive in the rain, so we motored out on rainy Friday.

And rain it did! This storm ended up becoming the blizzard that hit the mid-atlantic coast over the weekend, but here it was warm (upper 60's) and rained 2-3" on coastal SC. We cruised up to mile 570 and dropped anchor in the New River, near Daufuskie Island, which has a rich history, and a new development where brother Steve has purchased a lot for his future retirement home. We went to shore at Daufuskie Landing (boat ramp!) and wanted to explore the island but the weather was too nasty (plus its a pretty big island).

The rain ended Friday night but there were gale-force winds which, combined with the strong tidal currents, made for a rockin time. When the wind aligns with the current its OK as Spray points her bow into the waves, but 6 hours later the current reverses, and Spray doesn't know where to point, and maybe the waves hit from the stern or worse, from abeam. On a night like this you put a lot of faith in the ground tackle. I've been working on improving my anchoring techniques and its paying off.

Saturday we quickly crossed into Georgia, crossing the Savannah River (we had to thread our way through busy ship traffic) and battling strong westerly winds (these raised a stiff chop in the sounds we crossed), we ended up near mile 614 in Kilkenny Creek (reference to South Park?), which had nice trees to block the west winds. We had a much more comfortable night here.

A word about dolphins (like Flipper). We see loads of those every day, and they always impress. They are quite large and very active. I had one great experience where a dolphin was riding our bow wave and I put Spray's helm straight and went to the bow to look down for a couple minutes as the the dolphin jumped forwards again & again. On the other hand its a bit disconcerting when we are in the dinghy and a pair of dolphins dives right underneath us and you can feel the wake from them.

And a word about channel depths. In parts of SC and especially in GA, maintenance of the ICW has been put off, so there are several channels that are shoaling, creating scary numbers on the depthfinder. On the other hand, the tides here are significant (8'), and we've been fortunate with our timing, with rising tides in the morning, high tides mid-day, and ebbing tides in the afternoon, usually after we have anchored.

OK, where were we? Oh yes, leaving Kilkenny Creek on Sunday morning. Still strong westerlies, but not as bad as the previous day. In fact, while its quite cold, we have wall-to-wall sun. Spray has large windows and gets a nice greenhouse effect thing going on a day like this. We cruise another 35 miles (have you noticed how much we like ~ 35 mile days? Leave at 9am and drop anchor at 2 pm) and anchor in the Duplin River, near ICW mile 650. Plenty of time to dinghy to the ferry landing at Sapelo Island, where the U of GA has a Marine Center, which we visit on a georgeous 4 mile walk.

A calm night Sunday brings us to this morning, when we continue south (for ~35 miles of course) to our present anchorage off of Jekyll Island (mile 685). Our anchorages since leaving Charleston (except for Beaufort) have a common factor of remoteness and poor (very poor) ATT web access. Here we are much more civilized since Jekyll is a resort island with hotels, a shopping center, and so on. We took a long walk to explore (a bike would be nice here) and made it to the broad beach on the Atlantic which Riggs loved. Tomorrow morning I will walk 1.5 miles to the grocery store to buy supplies. Then onwards: probably to St. Marys GA, a pretty town near the FLA border.

Note that we've developed a routine: leaving at a leisurely 9 am or so after shore time (empty the dog) and breakfast (Grits!), cruising for 5 hours or so, then time to explore the new location. I could get used to this.

Charleston is great!

We've really enjoyed our week in Charleston SC but, as you can see, they do communicate a bit differently here. Note the palms.

Its obvious that we did pop for the extra marina fees to stay here for a week. In part this was to have more time to do Christmas shopping, boat maintenance (oil change!), and see more of this lovely city, but its also a factor of the Charleston Maritime Center's pricing scheme. For example our last 4 days here cost only 2/3 of our first 3 days. If we extend the stay to a month, the remaining 3+ weeks costs the same as our first week. Its tempting but we've gotta move southwards.

The weather has been mixed: 70's and mostly sunny today, but plenty of rain and cold in the past days. Since we have shore power, I bought a small electric heater that was perfect to keep Spray warm on the cold nights we've had.

The best part of hanging here has been to visit with cruising friends (and fellow Castiners) Karen & Jeff Siegel. We've shared some great meals (especially last night's 'dinner party for five' aboard their boat), evening movies (we've been turned on to 'Red Box'), much boat talk, walks around town, and doggie play times with Riggs and their two labs Dyna & Dylan. They will be leaving Charleston in early Jan. to head south. My guess is that we will rendevous again in the FLA Keys.

This big-city living and marina comfort can be addicting, but its time to head down the ICW and live on the anchor. We'll fill the water tank tomorrow, do some final grocery shopping, and get going. In two days we should be in Beaufort SC.

Into the low country of SC

Riggs and I have been moving southwards in search of warmer weather. On Saturday we left Wrightsville Beach (ICW mile 283) and kept to the ICW, stopping for the night at a free dock in Southport NC (mile 309). We had time to explore Southport's nice downtown area, and did some Christmas shopping there.

Sunday we crossed into SC and stayed overnight at Barefoot Landing (mile 354), a large open-air shopping complex built around an artificial lake and having a long marina-dock along the ICW. Yes, we actually paid to stay there! The dock filled up but the shops were mostly empty. I was overdue for a shower and was disappointed to find that they had no such facilities, plus we were tied up just below the picture windows of a Greg Norman's Australian Grille restaurant. If I did my normal bath on Spray's rear deck I could cause some diners to lose their surf&turf.

So it was a ripe captain who on Monday piloted Spray down the Waccamaw river, one of the prettiest sections of the ICW so far. We past remote Bucksport SC which I'm told has some connection to Bucksport Maine, and eventually pulled of the ICW into Thoroughfare Creek at mile 389 and dropped anchor opposite a huge sand dune that Riggs really enjoyed playing on. Plenty of privacy there for my much-needed bath.

We are now into the SC low country (even though I haven't seen a 100' hill since NY), which is marshland covered with grasses. We are also back into a region of significant tides, and the anchorages have changing currents as a result. Tuesday we continued south (actually more westerly), pausing to tour the harbor of Georgetown SC, which looks to be worth a stop on the return trip. For our overnight we chose 5 Fathom Creek, which is near McClellanville SC. The creek is surrounded by grass-covered marsh (see photo above) but a dinghy ride to explore town was worth it. A fishing community with huge old live oaks dripping with spanish moss.

Since the wind was expected to kick up on Wednesday, and the 5 Fathom Creek has significant reversing currents, we tried using 2 anchors off Spray's bow, one upstream in the creek and one downstream. This seemed to hold during the night but when I woke up at 6:30 am I noticed two things: 1) the wind had certainly kicked up and 2) we were moving!. One of the anchors had broken free and had wrapped its line around the other's. I immediately fired up Spray's diesel and spent an hour getting things untangled and got us underway.

I had originally planned for a liesurely 25 mile cruise today to leave us just 15 miles short of Charleston, but since we were underway so early, and since the wind was screaming, I instead called the marina in Charleston and asked if they could take us a day early. They said yes so we plowed forward into a strong headwind and opposing current. While the wind was strong, the ICW was mostly protected so waves were minimal, until we finally burst into wide Charleston Harbor, where a nasty 4 foot confused sea welcomed us.

We were taking the waves on our port bow, with huge spray dowsing the windshield, when my cell phone rang. It was Jeff Siegel who was expecting our arrival in Charleston tomorrow but was monitoring our progress via our Spot tracker. He says 'Are you in Charleston Harbor?' and I get directions from him on how to find the Charleston Maritime Center while struggling to keep Spray upright. A very bouncy 10 minutes later Spray is pulling into the marina while Jeff and Karen come to the slip to meet us (with Jeff filming on his iPhone - see at their blog: http://takingpaws.blogspot.com/ )

So after a rather hairy morning (what with dragging anchors, high winds and waves, etc) we got Spray tied up and Riggs emptied (thanks Karen!) and the Siegels invited us aboard their trawler 'Acapella' for a lunch of wonderful soup. Riggs and the Siegel's dogs Dyna & Dylan formed an uneasy relationship due to turf issues and size differences. I hope some outdoor play tomorrow will make them (Riggs that is) more comfortable with each other.

This marina (Charleston Maritime Center) is small and ideally located next to Charleston's French Quarter. Riggs and I have taken two long walks, checking out the shops and scads of restaurants. Right now I've paid for three nights here, but I'm tempted to extend that to a week. Stay tuned.

Travel adventures

There have been only two days of travel since my last entry, but several interesting events occurred which I want to record.

Thursday morning we woke in Beaufort NC (mile 202 on the ICW) to sun and moderate winds after the big wind/rain/thunderstorms of Wednesday night. Fortunately we were in a snug anchorage (Town Creek). After raising anchor we hit a nearby marina to fill Spray's fuel and water tanks and headed west past Morehead City and into Bogue Sound, which is quite shallow (3-5 ft typ.) except for where the ICW channel is cut (more like 12 ft deep). There was a decent headwind in Bogue Sound, so allthough Spray was all washed off from the heavy rain, she was soon again covered in salt spray.

Eventually Bogue Sound narrowed down to a bunch of flat islands and meandering channels, as we approached our evening destination of Swansboro NC (mile 229 on the ICW). We were about 2 miles from Swansboro, just passing Bogue inlet when I noticed a US Coast Guard patrol boat (A big inflatable with 2 huge outboards) dawdling up ahead. Sure enough, when we got close, they turned on their blue flashing lights and called Spray on VHF channel 16, asking when we had last been boarded for inspection. I answered 'never' and they asked me to maintain course and speed while they came up alongside. After confirming that Riggs was not aggressive (obnoxious maybe but not aggressive) two soldiers jumped aboard, while two more remained on the CG boat.

So I'm trying to drive Spray into a strong head-current, hang onto Riggs, and introduce myself and Spray to the soldiers. I quickly realized that letting Riggs go to check them out would settle him down, and after a few sniffs and pats Riggs mellowed right out. The CG guys looked over Spray, including below in the engine room and in the lazarette, and wanted to see my documentation. I suggested we wait until I could pull into Swansboro and drop anchor, and they agreed. I still had my hands full as the Swansboro anchorage was quite choppy, with opposing wind and current, and I couldn't get Spray's anchor to set properly. It would hold our position until I backed down on it when it would drag. Finally I decided to shut down Spray's engine so we could finish the inspection and I'd deal with the anchor later.

The CG guys went over Spray's documentation, inspected the head connections, checked PFD's, flares, fire extinguishers, etc. and awarded Spray a perfect score, for which I have to thank Dave Wyman and Jeff&Karen Siegel for their contributions. Even better, after the CG left, I restarted the engine and found that the current had pulled on the anchor and it was now well set.

Once we are at anchor I usually feel like cracking open a Yuengling (official beer of the cruise) and kicking back for a bit but Riggs will not hear of it. He makes a fuss until we get the dinghy unloaded and are headed to shore. So we tied up at Swansboro's dinghy dock and did the explore town/empty-the-dog routine. Swansboro is a pretty town but like many I've seen, all of the shops near the water sell gifts or antiques or such. Useful stores like grocery or hardware are usually a mile walk or more.

By the time we returned to Spray, the anchorage had calmed down considerably, so we had an easy night. Today we wanted to cover some distance so we hit shore at first light to empty the dog, and were underway by 7:30. At last the ICW conforms to my mental images of it, travelling down narrow waterways that separate barrier islands from the mainland. Today we were always within a mile or two of the big, bad ocean, but we never saw it as we traveled. An interesting thing today was passing through Camp LeJeune, where they occasionally have weapons firing across the ICW (see photo above). Their warning sign was flashing, but we saw no patrol boats which would be there to stop us if there was live-fire (so I'm told), so we scooted through with our heads kept low. Caught some glimpses of big hovercraft things, helicopters, and a landing craft being loaded, but nothing went boom while we were there.

Our goal today was Wrightville Beach NC (mile 283 on the ICW) and it became a 'race for the bridges'. Almost all of the drawbridges we have seen up to today were on an 'open-on-request' schedule. Today we had 3 bridges that opened either on the half-hour or on the hour only. We did well with the first one (Onslow Beach), arriving just a few minutes before it opened. The 2nd bridge (Figure Eight Island) was about 2-1/2 hours later and we should have sped up to make the 2 pm opening but instead arrived at 2:15. There was almost no road traffic on the bridge so I asked the bridge operator for an unscheduled opening so we could have a shot at the 3:00 opening at the 3rd bridge (Wrightville). No dice. So when we got through we had about 28 minutes to cover the 5 miles to the 3rd bridge, or we would have to wait another hour to get through (which involves somewhat uncomfortable 'hovering' near the bridge with a current trying to push you into it). It was pedal-to-the-metal for Spray, roaring along at 2000 rpm, and making over 9 knots (with some help from the current). We could see the bridge from 3 miles away and it slowly grew closer as the clock ticked towards 3:00. Thanks to that current we made it just in time, then quickly turned left to get to tonights anchorage at Wrightville Beach.

Wrightville Beach is a surfer's town, plus it has scads of condos and beach houses common on the outer banks. The dinghy dock here is just 2 blocks from the beach, and Riggs had a great time playing ball near the pounding surf. We rewarded our big travel day with a take-out pizza brought back to Spray. And I finally got my Yuengling.

Recipes from Spray

There's a gale blowin' outside so Riggs and I are still in the well-protected Town Creek anchorage at Beaufort NC. Good ATT access here so why not another blog entry. While buddy Dave was aboard I did most of the cooking and he did most of the dishwashing. Dave seemed to enjoy what I cooked so I thought I'd share some dishes. I claim that Spray has 'some of the comforts of home' which includes a 3-burner propane stove but we also live just a few notches above camping standards, so you should compare these recipes to a standard such as Dinty Moore canned stew.

Root veg. medley : This falls into the category of 'one-pot-wonders' which is an asset when the cook is also the dishwasher.

-Put frying pan on heat and pour in ~ 1/4 cup olive oil.

-Cut up a potato and put chunks in hot oil. Cover.

-Cut up a couple carrots and add to pan. Cover.

-Cut up an onion and add to pan. Cover.

-Cut up some garlic and add to pan. Cover.

-Think of something else to add such as broccoli pieces or canned beet chunks. Add those and cover.

- Stir things now and then and serve when everything is cooked.

Bill's beautiful beans: Also a one pot wonder.

- Put frying pan on heat and pour in a splash of olive oil.

- Cut up an onion and add to pan. Cover.

- While onions cook open 2 cans of beans. Beans must be of different colors such as:

- Kidneys and cannelinis

- Baked and black

- you get the idea

- Pour beans into pan. Cover.

- If either can of beans has flavoring (chile, tomato, etc.) you are done when things are hot. Otherwise add some spices - whatever you have,

- After serving and consuming, ventilate boat.

Pasta with enhanced red sauce :

- Select ~ 8 oz of pasta (Spag. or Penne or whatever) and cook in boiling water.

- Put frying pan on heat and pour in a splash of olive oil.

- Cut up an onion and add to pan. Cover.

- When onion is mostly cooked add some red sauce from a jar.

- Open a tin of tuna (I use solid albacore in water), pour liquid onto Rigg's supper, and add tuna to sauce. Use fork to bust up tuna chunks.

- Serve sauce over cooked pasta.

(This meal can be cooked with one pot. Email me for details.)

Fritata ala Spray : (Dave didn't get to sample this as we had no eggs)

- Put frying pan on low heat and pour in ~ 1/4 cup olive oil.

- Slowly saute some cut-up onions, garlic, red peppers, mushrooms, etc. (go for some color). Cover pan.

- Crack 6 eggs into a bowl and whip them up with a fork.

- When vegs are soft pour in eggs and cook slowly with cover on pan.

- If you have broiler, put uncovered pan under broiler when almost all cooked, otherwise just finish cooking in covered pan.

If any reader comes to cruise on Spray, this is the type of gourmet cuisine that can be expected.

Time to move southwards

Riggs and I are on our own again and are in Beaufort NC (pronounced bow-fort and not to be confused with Beaufort SC which is pronounced bew-fert even though both cities are named after the same guy). Good friend Dave Wyman was aboard for over 2 weeks but drove north from New Bern NC this morning. We had a great time exploring the large estuaries of eastern NC.

Let's see... the last blog entry had us celebrating Thanksgiving in lovely Washington NC up the Pamlico River. Windy weather (and the beauty of Washington) prompted us to stay there 2 nights, so we got to sample some of their many restaurants plus we walked to a West Marine store where Dave bought himself a Christmas present of a Garmin 400c hand-held chartplotter which was on black-Friday sale for half price. It has all US marine charts loaded in it and is an impressive gadget. We had fun playing with it over the last few days.

Riggs really liked Washington since we could play chuck-it only steps from the boat. You've never seen obsession like he has for that tennis ball. Also, by staying an extra day, Dave and I were able to tour Washington's Estuarium which is a great museum based on NC's huge estuaries. Really well done.

About mid-day Saturday we motored down the Pamlico river to Bath NC which bills itself as the oldest town in NC (est 1705). They have a free state-owned dock and some beautiful old homes.

When cruising I like to alternate between longer travel days (say 7 hours cruising) and shorter days (maybe 3 hours), with occasional no-travel days tossed in (usually by the weatherman). Washington to Bath was a short day which we followed by a longer cruise on Sunday to Oriental NC, a sailor's town on Pamlico Sound. They have a small free dock that was occupado so we instead anchored in nearby Green's Creek and took the inflatable (Dave calls them deflatables) to the dinghy dock. The cruise to Oriental included a nice mix of wide sounds and narrow canal travel. When we land at a new town an exploratory walk is usually the first task, and Oriental is a nice town to explore. But I think what we will most remember about Oriental is the great supper we had at the M&M Cafe. Dave says it was the best meal we shared during his time aboard Spray.

If you look at a map of eastern NC you will see the huge areas of Abermarle and Pamlico Sounds, and the 3 arms that stretch westwards: Western Abermarle, Pamlico River, and Neuse River. We had explored the first 2 arms based on sheer curiosity and Dave gave us a good reason to travel up the Neuse since only up there in New Bern could he find a car rental for his return trip. So on Monday it was up the Neuse we went. New Bern is a large town (Craven County seat) with a new convention center, a great waterfront park (chuck-it!), and yes, free town docks. After docking, we did our exploratory walk, then had supper aboard Spray. This morning (Tuesday) I had planned for breakfast aboard Spray but it was sorta cold, so we opted for a restaurant breakfast at the nearby Hilton hotel. It was ritzy but I preferred the diner-type breakfasts we had earlier.

After Dave's taxi picked him up today, Riggs and I fired up Spray's 135 HP Ford-Lehman diesel, and we raced back down the Neuse River (at 7 mph), through the Adams Creek Canal, and arrived here in Beaufort NC by 4 pm, anchoring in well-protected Town Creek, on the back-side of town. We were welcomed into the Beaufort area by several dolphins, which was very cool. At Rigg's insistance, we dinghied ashore and explored the town a bit before retiring back to Spray.

There is a gale warning up for tomorrow into Thursday, so we may be pinned down here. If its not bad in the morning, we may fill the fuel & water tanks, and then cruise 25 miles down to Swansboro, thus moving ever southwards. We'll see.

Off, on, and off the ICW

My friend Dave Wyman is still along with Riggs and I as we wander the waters of eastern North Carolina. At last report we were in pretty Edenton, about 40 miles west of the ICW. We used their pump-out station Monday morning (Dave is studying different pump-out ideas as he will be helping Castine decide how to best provide this service) and left for a 3 hour cruise to Columbia, a very small town located on the south shore of Abermarle Sound. We tied to their free dock which has a nearbybath-house with hot shower. At the adjacent municipal building I signed the visitor book and noted that the previous entry was almost a month old. We are off the beaten path.

Amazingly, Columbia has a winery, which sells a red it calls the 'healthiest wine in the world' because its made from a special grape that has 40 times the antioxidants of regular grapes. I tasted some and decided I'd rather oxidize.

On Tuesday morning we walked an incredible boardwalk that takes you into the cypress swampland that dominates this area. We were sure glad it wasn't mosquito season. Then Spray took us back into Abermarle Sound where we wanted to head east to reconnect with the ICW at the Alligator River. We traveled an extra hour to get there as we had to swing way offshore to skirt a posted military bombing range (don't want to short-cut through there). It was a gray day and as we started south on the Alligator we began losing daylight so we pulled into an inlet at a place called Catfish Point. Very tricky to enter between submerged trees and very isolated in the cypress swamp (no lights, no cell-phone signal, and probably no other people for 20 miles), we used our anchor for the first time in NC. Since the swamp had no solid ground to dinghy to, Riggs had to have an Astroturf night, his first since NJ. He knew just what to do and did it. What a good boat-dog!

Did I say earlier that we were post-mosquitoes? Not here we weren't. We had to batten down the hatches to keep them out. Wednesday morning we got going early. In these protected waters we can cook oatmeal while underway. We continued south on the Alligator River, encountering a tugboat pushing a barge (see above). This rig is called a towboat - go figure. Note that the barge is loaded and so is low in the water, drawing maybe 10 feet while the channel depth is only dredged to 12 feet (sometimes its less) so we understood why the towboat traveled slowly. Dave guesses its hauling coal from near Charleston SC up to some power plant in NC or VA.

From the Alligator River we entered the Alligator-Pungo Canal, which is about 20 miles long and connects the Alligator and Pungo Rivers (duh). It travels through mostly swampland and looks somewhat like the Dismal Swamp Canal, except it is maybe 3 times wider so it can handle towboats, and it has no locks. At our stately 7 knot speed Spray makes a very small wake, as compared to a large planing motoryacht that came up from behind at 20 knots, slowed while it passed, then roared ahead, sending 3 foot waves rolling out into the swamp. Even Riggs was not impressed.

Five miles after exiting the A-P Canal, we reached Bel Haven NC, anchored off a boat ramp, and dinghied ashore (first use of dinghy in NC) to explore. Bel Haven is having tough times, with half the downtown storefronts empty. We later hear that its been this way for years. We did have a nice dinner there. Crabcakes...mmmmm.

Today (Thanksgiving Day) we went south down the Pungo River to where it meets huge Pamlico Sound. Here the ICW continues south but here we again diverted west, 33 miles up the Pamlico River to the large town of Washington NC. This is a beautiful, prosperous looking town that is the seat of Beaufort County and has a huge riverfront bulkhead and park where we tied up for free docking (of course). As its Thanksgiving everything was closed, except for a nearby Mexican bakery (yum), and the fact that the dockmaster was on duty. The downtown is very nice, with some buildings painted in pastel colors. Should make some cool photos.

Today was warm, sunny, and calm. Really beautiful. After exploring downtown we snacked on Mexican pastries, then Dave went to use the hot showers while I played chuckit with Riggs. Many families were walking down the riverfront promenade, holding their bellies and groaning from being so stuffed, and most laughed at Riggs as he zipped after his tennis ball. As the sun went down I started cooking our Thanksgiving feast. One of my 'one-pot-wonders' where potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, and broccoli are all sauteed in olive oil in one pan. Its mostly root vegetables, as are traditional Thanksgiving sides, so except for lacking a big dead bird it was close to the real thing. We liked it, and clean-up was easy!

For tomorrow, plan A is to head back east to the town of Bath NC, but there is a gale warning posted, so we may hang here in Washington for another day. Not a bad place to hang.

No anchor needed in NC?

We've been in NC since Thursday afternoon and have yet to use our anchor, nor have we had to pay for marina space. This state (at least this part of it) really welcomes cruisers.

Thursday we had a great cruise down the Dismal Swamp Canal, which is narrow (trees hang over on both sides), and perfectly straight for maybe 12 miles, bends left by 30 degrees and is then straight for another 8 miles. Just after the bend we crossed from VA into NC and shortly tied to a bulkhead at the Dismal Swamp Canal Visitors Center, just in time for lunch. They allow free overnight tie-up for as many boats as will fit. That night there were 4 sailboats and us. We had the afternoon to kill, so we crossed the canal on a unique floating drawbridge and walked some in the Dismal Swamp. Very beautiful but apparently loaded with ticks in summer. Dave and Riggs then rested on Spray while I checked out a bicycle from the visitors center (free of course so I didn't complain that it was a womans bike). They have a paved bike path that follows the canal for 3 miles so I rode down and back.

Friday we filled Spray's water tank, had a nice breakfast, played chuck-it with Riggs, and left at 9:45 in hopes to reach the southern lock to exit the canal at the 11:00 lock-through . We had a 1+ knot following current so we occasionally just drifted so as to not arrive too early. After the lock-through (Riggs had a lock-side romance with a little poodle - ooh la la!) we continued through another straight section (Turner's Cut) and then joined the Pasquotank River. This section meandered through cypress swamp and was just gorgeous. Eventually we reached Elizabeth City, which many cruisers call the friendliest town on the ICW (we can't argue it) and pulled into one of their 14 free slips at about 2 pm.

To learn how Elizabeth City (pop ~ 20,000) became the 'Harbor of Hospitality' (see photo above) read this:

http://www.discoverec.org/pdf/PressRelease/ElizabethCitytoDedicateRoseBuddiesMarker18Sept2008.pdf

Sure enough, after some exploration around downtown we attended the wine & cheese cruisers reception complete with a booster spiel by the Mayor. I was a little surprised when the Mayor began by giving a special welcome to Spray and its first mate Riggs. It turns out that when we were holed up in Atlantic City NJ for 4 days the Mayor was on another boat at the same anchorage and had dinghied by for some chat and as usual Riggs made an impression.

E.C. could have been the model for Mayberry. I kept looking for Sheriff Andy Taylor. We stayed for two nights and did our part to reward their welcome by eating in 4 restaurants, buying groceries, and touring their superb 'Museum of the Abemarle'. They provide free WiFi to the boat slips and have a webcam

http://www.ecncweather.com/harborcam.php

aimed at the boats so Dave and I had silly fun waving at our spouses while they got on- line and watched us.

We pulled out of our slip at dawn today and continued down the Pasquotank, which is quite wide below E.C., to reach huge Abemarle Sound, a notoriously rough body of water. The ICW cuts south across the sound, but we didn't. Back when we were at the Dismal Swamp Canal Visitors Center, they gave us a great map of the eastern half of NC, which has an incredible number of waterways. We both thought it would be a neat area to explore so as we entered Abemarle Sound we hung a hard right turn and proceeded west for 40 miles to arrive in Edentown NC after 7 hrs total travel time today (we call this a long day). Some call Edentown the prettiest town in the South. They too have free docking for cruisers, and since they are off the ICW and its post-season we are the only visiting boat here. They also have HOT SHOWERS for our use. The town itself reminds me somewhat of Castine, very historic with beautiful old homes and a great waterfront although they do have more downtown business and restaurants.

Its Sunday so the town is quiet. Tomorrow they are predicting rain and wind so we might stay put here. If we do move it will probably be to nearby Columbia NC where they have .... free docking (of course). We'll keep ya posted.

Change of crew, Change of State

We resume the narrative last Friday where Spray and crew are hunkered down in St Michaels MD while ex-hurricane Ida blows through. Sheila gets a ride to Chestertown to retrieve her car and now we can run errands such as laundramat, groceries, etc. For lunch brave Sheila tackles the steamed crab experience (above) and in the end its Sheila 6, crabs 0. She says crabs are way more work then lobsters. Lazy Bill has a crab cake (which was great!).

Saturday morning is sad as Sheila and Katie depart for parts north and Spray heads out into a choppy Chesapeake, headed south towards Solomons MD and getting half way there to anchor in Dun Cove, just north of Tilghman Island. Sunday we make for Solomons and arrive at that busy boating hub (Spray's first stop on the west side of the Ches.) at 2 pm to anchor off a large marina. We are here to pick up good friend Dave Wyman, a neighbor from Castine and lifelong boating professional (Dave performed the survey of Spray before purchase). He meets me at the marina at 5 pm with his daughter and son-inlaw (who live nearby) and we all head to a Wal Mart to pick up some oil for Spray, then off to a great restaurant for dinner. Dave moves his gear onto Spray and sleeps aboard so we can get an early start Monday morning.

Our goal is to speed south (at 7 knots) to Norfolk VA where we will enter the ICW. Monday is a beautiful, warm, calm day and we bask on the Flying Bridge as we make about 45 miles, crossing into VA, to an inlet named Dividing Creek, which has a large beach for a walk and Riggs-play. Its a nice calm night but the next morning there was a gentle train of waves in the creek. Once we head back out into the bay we find their source: 3' waves on our beam that yield a very rocky ride south. We pull into the Back River about 10 miles above Norfolk, anchoring right off Langley AFB. It was a fairly windy night and Spray pitched some, but we were beat and slept well.

Today was a day of amazing variety and surprise. We got started early and headed out into a still choppy bay. Had a rocky ride for an hour or so before pulling into Hampton Roads where you enter Norfolk Harbor and where several rivers meet. I'm glad Dave was aboard and that he used to live nearby and so knows the area well. It was crazy with large shipping traffic to avoid, and the huge Navy facilities with all their activities including helicopters zipping overhead and patrol boats zooming by. Dave worked with the Navy for several years and was a good tour guide, identifying each ship type and how they work. We turned south into the Elizabeth River, next to downtown Norfolk and past ICW mile mark 0 at hospital point. We are in the ICW!

We passed through through two open bridges, wait at a RR drawbridge that ignores our radio request but does open after a horn toot, and then arrive at the Gilmerton drawbridges, a road bridge and parallel RR bridge. Two sailboats are waiting there and apparently the RR bridge is stuck down. We end up waiting 2 hours (with eventually 7 other boats and a tug&barge) for the #$%& RR bridge to open, which it finally does. Its only another mile or so before we (and the 2 sailboats just mentioned) turn right into Deep Creek, which shortly leads us to the lock that is the northern end of the Dismal Swamp Canal (first dug in the 1760's by slaves owned by G. Washington). We had hoped to be in time to drive most of the way down the canal but instead we make the last lock-through of the day (lifting Spray and contents by about 8 feet) and are now tied to a dock just past the lock. The fellow operating the lock was a hoot - very helpful and informative and nice enough to play us a tune on his conch shell while Riggs and another boater's dog played with his dog 'U-turn'.

This Dismal Swamp is interesting. The lock operator says the apparent isolation is a facade, that we are actually in the middle of the 2nd biggest population center in VA. Sure enough we can walk 1/4 mile to a very busy road, struggle across a couple intersections, and have dinner at a mexican restaurant (with the occupants of the 2 sailboats).

Tomorrow we'll have a leisurely morning as we can't proceed until a nearby drawbridge opens at 9 am. The we'll cruise at 5 knots max (which is fine with Spray) for 17 miles down the canal (mostly straight as an arrow) and at mid day we'll stop at the canal visitor center, just into NC. We may stay the night there, or continue south out of the canal (a lock will lower us by 8 feet) and head to Elizabeth City, which is reported to be the most welcoming stop on the ICW. Stay tuned to see how that goes.

So happy together

Sheila and Katie arrived in Chestertown right on time at 2 pm last Wednesday. It was a great reunion and they moved right aboard Spray. We spent a nice night at anchor in the Chester River. Thursday morning we had coffee & pastries in town, did a load of laundry, filled Spray's fuel and water tanks, and headed downriver, leaving Sheila's car at the Chestertown Marina. It was a nice cruise to Queenstown, where I had visited before. We walked the town and played ball on the nearby sand spit.

Friday we woke to a strong NW wind and it looked nasty enough on the bay to convince us to stay another night in Queenstown. We did an extended town walk, including through some farm country, and played more beach-ball. The wind that kept us pinned down brought out 3 young guys with huge kites and boogie-boards. They use the kites to pull themselves across the water, and sometimes way up into the air!

Saturday morning we woke to 30 degrees and Bill actually ran the propane heater for a while. We left Queenstown and turned south through the Kent Island Narrows. After a couple of bouncy hours we dropped anchor at St Michaels MD, a pretty town that is home of the Chesapeake Maritime Museum, which was hosting an Oyster Festival. The town was full of touristos, sucking down raw oysters left and right (often followed by a shot of vodka). We found a great field to play chuck-it, exhausted the dogs (yeah, right), and hit the town for a nice dinner.

Sunday morning was beautiful and warm, and we sunned ourselves aboard Spray (see above) while we listened to the church bells of St Michaels. After some dog play Sheila and Bill enjoyed a nice harborside lunch, and then went beer and wine tasting. Since the oyster festival was over, the town was much quieter. We had reserved a slip at Higgins Boatyard for Sunday night (they were full Sat.) so we moved Spray over to the slip, then we stocked up on groceries and fixed a nice supper aboard Spray, and finished with a DVD movie.

Monday we had breakfast in town, walked a mile or so to a hardware store, then back to Spray where Bill did some scrub-down work while Sheila hit some stores. At noon we left St. Michaels for a short and sunny cruise north into the Wye River, anchoring in Shaw Bay which has a decent beach. Tuesday we woke to a calm, warm, but cloudy day and toured the Wye East River at a mellow 5 knots before entering Dividing Creek for an anchorage. Dividing Creek almost cuts Wye Island in half (hence the name) but is surrounded by large trees and offers great protection. We dinghied to shore to find two state-maintained group campsites, which were perfect for chuck-it time. We then hiked a nature trail through a segment of old-growth forest (some awesome trees). Supper on Spray (did I mention that the caliber of food aboard Spray was several notches improved with Sheila aboard?), then a John Wayne movie.

Wednesday was still cloudy, and now somewhat windy, as apparently the remains of former hurricane Ida was moving in. We cruised the Wye West River a bit, and anchored for lunch near the bridge that connects Wye Island to the mainland. The radio was giving scary forecasts for overnight (NE winds gusting to 50 mph) so we decided to move to as protected an anchorage as possible, thus it was back to Dividing Creek for us. It started raining and the wind did blow, but we were snug and safe at our anchorage. Our rain gear was put to good use for dog-on-shore trips.

The original plan for today was to head back to Chestertown, both to run a few errands and to get Sheila (and Katie) to her car for their Saturday departure. But the 30-50 knot NE winds prompted a plan B, which was to return to the slip in St Michaels, have a nice lunch in a heated restaurant, and beg a ride for Sheila to get to Chestertown to pick up her car. The weather is now truly nasty (we're in the best protected corner of the harbor and are still bouncing some) and is expected to remain so at least into Saturday. So we'll hunker down, try a few more restaurants, revisit the brewery and winery, and finally put Sheila and Katie on the road to Maine on Saturday morning. I will then head south to Solomons MD to meet up with good friend David Wyman on Monday. He will be aboard for ICW cruising for nearly 2 weeks!

Killing Time on the Chester

DeRigging Days here in Chestertown MD was much fun. We had (unknowingly) arrived at the very start of the 4 day festival last Thursday, and got to see maybe eight tall ships arrive. The ships were from Maryland and nearby states such as VA and NJ. On Friday more spectator craft arrived, and our empty anchorage started to fill up. Friday evening there were fireworks (see above) which Riggs and I watched from Spray (amazingly, Riggs enjoyed them). By Saturday things were hopping here even though the weather was so-so.

We had seen enough, and Spray's battery was in need of charging, so on Saturday afternoon we headed back downriver. But not for good, because Sheila was able to break free from work ,and mother-support, schedules to drive down (with Katie-Bopp of course) for some cruising. They'll be arriving tomorrow and we will meet here in Chestertown (I want her to see this sweet town), where Spray is once again anchored.

Between Saturday and today, Riggs and I had 3 days to kill so we gunkholed around the lower Chester River, staying at anchorages in the offshoot Corsica River (Sat. night), nearby Reeds Creek (Sun. Night), and Grays Inn Creek (Mon. night). Each had their own beauty. This morning we woke to calm misty beauty in Grays Inn Creek (below) and began our leisurely return upriver to Chestertown.

Of course I'm excited to be seeing Sheila tomorrow, and Riggs will be VERY excited to see Katie-Bopp. The four of us will be cruising the mid-Cesapeake area for maybe nine days, returning here to Chestertown on about Nov 14.

I can't carp about Chestertown

We've cruised up the Chester River, which extends eastwards from Chesapeake Bay, to end up here in Chestertown MD. I remember writing that Essex CT was maybe the prettiest town I've seen but we have another candidate here. Very historic with some beautiful houses and brick buildings.

I had been thinking about how slow things were around here as we are several weeks post-season, so imagine my surprise when we arrive in Chestertown for day 1 of their annual Downrigging Weekend, a gathering of several tall ships and celebration of the end of the boating season. Read more about it here:

http://www.sultanaprojects.org/downrigging.htm

But let's back up to see how we arrived here. On Monday we took a break from gunkholing to visit Rock Hall MD. We anchored in nearby Swan Creek, and dinghied in to Haven Harbor Marina where they were nice to let us use their dinghy dock and walk into town. Riggs and I had an excellent lunch at the Harbor Shack, right on the harbor, then walked all over Rock Hall. Later I went solo to a grocery store there and bought some supplies.

Tuesday we cruised south to Queenstown MD, at the mouth of the Chester River. The entrance to the cove there was challenging but worth the effort, since the cove had a nice sandy spit for Riggs to run on, and the small town was very charming. Around here you see lots of history of both Revolutionary times and also Civil War times.

Wednesday we cruised farther up the Chester into Langford Creek, to anchor behind Cacaway Island. Really beautiful with scads of canadian geese (in transit) and eagles, plus the local foliage is near peak in color. Today we went further up the Chester, which is very rural with spectacular waterfront farms.

I had been told not to miss Chestertown, and I now know why. Its a lovely town, with well-preserved old sea-captains homes, and an old-time brick downtown. That we arrived in time for this tall ships gathering is a bonus. After touring the waterfront and downtown areas (If pee-marking is valid then Riggs now owns this town), we were heading back to the park where we had tied our dinghy and noticed two fellas fishing from the bulkhead, So we met these nice retired guys, Franklin and Craig (I think), who have perfected the art of shoreside fishing for carp. They each have a lean-to to sit under, and a bracket that holds two fishing rods, each with electronic sensors to announce when they have a bite. They use some sort of corn as bait. They apparently regularly reel in 10-20 lb. carp, which they take a picture of and then release.

Riggs entertained the three of us with his amazing ball chase-and-retrieve skills and occasionally a fish-alarm would go off. At one point I was offered the chance to reel in one of the behemoths and you see the results above (I'm the one smiling). It was all great fun.

We'll hang here to enjoy the festivities tomorrow, including fireworks (probably directly above Spray). Then we'll gunkhole our way back down the Chester River.

Gunkholing

No its not a nasty medical procedure, it is instead the art of cruising in shoal waters, anchoring in small coves that are difficult to enter. This is what Riggs and I have been doing in the upper Chesapeake over the last few days.

Our story picks up last Tuesday, near Cape May NJ. We got an early start down to Cape May and through the Cape May Canal, which cuts into Delaware Bay. Everything I've read and heard says 'watch out for Delaware Bay' as it can be quite rough. So as we emerged into a 3-4' chop, and couldn't see the other side of the bay (its quite wide there), it was a little intimidating. But it was a warm sunny day, the wind soon abated, and we had luckily timed our run with a favorable current. It got quite calm so we moved upstairs to the flying bridge and worked on our suntans as we motored up the bay (Rigg's nose is quite black now). We made such good time that by 3:30 we were entering the C&D Canal, which is sized for large ships, passed through part of the state of Delaware, and anchored in Chesapeake City MD in time for pizza and beer at the Chesapeake Inn (we dined al-fresco so Riggs could partake too).

Thus a major milestone was achieved. Instead of 'racing' southward, to get through the 'big water' sections while dodging the gales of fall, we entered Gunkhole Mode. Wednesday morning we leisurely explored the interesting town of Chesapeake City, and then unloaded my little yellow canoe to explore up a beautiful meandering creek. We pulled anchor at about noon, and cruised for a couple hours down the remainder of the C&D, then the very upper Chesapeake, then turning east and cruising an hour up the Sassafras River, dropping anchor in the mouth of Woodland Creek (in about 5 feet of water).

Another new aspect to this Gunkhole Mode is that the great ATT internet service we enjoyed since leaving Maine is now much reduced. This is a rural area and I typically get '1 bar' of service, which usually kicks me offline after a minute or so. So blogging, etc. is a pain.

Woodland Creek was a great anchorage. Ther were only a couple of houses in sight, and there were several small beaches to visit, plus uninhabited Daffodil Island to explore. We dinghied a mile farther up the Sassafras to see the towns of Georgetown/Fredericktown only to discover that there were no actual towns there, just six humongous marinas stuffed with thousands of boats. It boggles the mind to think what July 4th weekend must be like around here when all of those boats head down the river. Now its post season, so they are all buttoned up. One of the marinas let us tie up to their dock and walk around for awhile, which Riggs appreciated. Upon returning to Woodland Creek, Riggs had fun swimming after his beloved tennis ball.

Thursday morning we again got the canoe down and paddled up to the head of the creek. Really beautiful and apparently popular with duck hunters (many blinds). We explored Daffodil Island and Riggs swam again. Then back to Spray for lunch, a little boat maintenance, and some reading. All in all, a nice day.

Friday morning we motored back down the Sassafras and down the Chesapeake to Still Pond Creek, a cove on the east side of the Chesapeake. It was a narrow and shallow inlet, but we fit and again anchored with about 2 feet of water beneath our keel. In the dinghy we visited the sandy spit at the entrance to the creek, and explored nearby Churn Creek.

Saturday a strong south wind came up, and we left Still Pond Creek for the next cove going southward, Worton Creek, only an hour cruise or so. The bay had a nasty 4' chop that we nosed into, resulting in much spray on Spray. Worton Creek has a couple of marinas, but the one store here was out of milk and beer, and supplies aboard Spray are getting low.

Saturday evening a front came through, complete with thunderstorms and heavy downpours. It was no nasty I had to lay out the astroturf (tm) for Riggs. Today its crisp and clear, the wind has shifted to NW, and we'll do a short cruise to yet another gunkhole, Fairlee Creek. Tomorrow we'll head for a real town, Rock Hall MD, where we can load up on groceries. Until then, we're enjoying being in Gunkhole Mode!

Free at Last!

Riggs and I were trapped near Atlantic City for 5 nights and 4 days. Two sequential Nor'easters swept by with much rain and gale-force winds. And cold too. We tried escaping on Saturday, by creeping down the 'inside' (NJ ICW) path, but we only got a few miles before encountering a railroad bridge with 5' clearance that wasn't opening due to high winds and tides, so we had to turn around and return to the 'Brigantine' anchorage near AC.

It did get worse on Saturday, to the point where it was too treacherous to take the dinghy to the beach, so Riggs had to learn to do his business onboard Spray. I laid out a square yard of astroturf (tm) on the rear deck (the poopdeck?) and, after holding off an amazingly long time, Riggs finally performed every 'number' in his repertoire.

Sunday was still nasty, but was made much nicer by a visit from my niece, Dr Michelle Homsher. She works at CHOP (Childrens' Hospital of Philadelphia) as a researcher. She drove down to deliver a backup computer shipped by my friend, Ken, and also some great apples and some NJ cranberry wine (I'll have to work up some courage - or desperation - to crack that open). I braved the waves to dinghy to shore to meet her and we had a nice Italian lunch together.

Finally, today we had wall-to-wall sun! After a quick beach run, we confirmed that the railroad bridge was operating, pulled anchor, and hit the NJ ICW. It was an enjoyable, meandering trip, with challenging currents, many drawbridges, and shallow depths. We did get stuck for 1/2 hour or so near Hereford Inlet. Had to wait for the tide to lift us off the mud. No big deal.

We're anchored in Sunset Lake, a couple of miles north of Cape May. Tomorrow we'll get an early start through the Cape May Canal, then up the dreaded Delaware Bay. This will set us up to enter the Chesapeake Bay on Wednesday. Yay!

How to repair a computer

So my Acer netbook had died and I had to move my internet access to an antique Dell laptop that had insufficient memory to use the important ActiveCaptain site and could not accept my digital photos. Here's how I solved the problem:

- Arrange for good friend Ken Goldsholl in California to Fedex an older computer of his to my niece's address and arrange for said niece (Dr. Michelle Homsher) to meet with me this weekend.

- Only after this process is well underway, get online and Google 'Acer Aspire One is dead'. Find instructions on how to reload the BIOS code to the Acer.

- Spend 4 hours attempting to reload BIOS code to the Acer. It finally works!

So I'm back in business with two computers, and a third one on the way. At least I'll get to see Michelle, hopefully on Sunday.

We're still hunkered down in Atlantic City. The wind has moderated to around 20 knots and the rain is light. I probably should have resumed southward travel today. Tomorrow the weather is predicted to be somewhat worse! Yikes!

So now that I can deal with photos again, here's the first Pelican we saw, proof that we are not in Kansas anymore!

From one skyline to another

Since my last post Riggs and I have traveled from the Big Apple to the Big Casino, and are now anchored off of Atlantic City NJ, hunkering down for some upcoming nasty weather.

Monday's sprint through NYC was a trip indeed. We caught the tidal current in the East River just right, and were flushed from Throgs Neck to the south end of Manhatten in an hour or so, with a max 5 knots of current pushing us in the Hell's Gate area. Not much traffic (one tug pulling a barge against the current - I guess this gives them better control) until encountering a swarm of ferries near Wall Street. They zipped by on all sides as we puttered through. We swung close by Liberty Island to snap some pix of the copper lady, then down through Verrazano Narrows to end the day's cruise in Atlantic Highlands NJ.

I met with my Aunt Ann and Uncle Jim for supper. It was great to see them and catch up on family news. Thanks Ann & Jim!

Tuesday we made an outside run of about 45 miles in the North Atlantic. The wind was from the west, off the land, so we traveled as close to the beach as possible (about 1/2 mile), and the travel was OK. We pulled into Barnegat Inlet under optimum conditions (it can be bad there on an ebbing tide) and anchored nearby. I used the bigger CQR anchor since there was a strong NW wind that night. The anchor performed great.

Wednesday morning we looked out to the ocean and didn't like what we saw. The surf out there looked like a mountain range in the distance, so we traveled the 'inside route' on the NJ ICW to bring us here to Atlantic City. Its a much longer, slower route to travel, but quite interesting. Shallow water (typically 6 ft deep or so, Spray needs 4 ft) and narrow channels kept me on my toes, and the route meanders all over the place. We coule see the AC skyline the whole way (looked like the Emerald City) but we often weren't pointed towards it. Spray bumped the bottom once, and we paused to pull free a stuck sailboat (nice guy from Bucksport Maine of all places), and we dropped anchor in this great cove at about 3 pm. There's a good beach nearby which Riggs appreciates, and a great view of the casino buildings and their night light shows.

There's a gale warning up for tonight, and much wind predicted over the next 3 days, so we may be here awhile. I'm sorry about not posting any pictures with this entry, but apparently my small netbook computer, into which I could easily load pictures, has died. I'm now using my navigation computer, an old Dell laptop, for email and blogging. I've got to find that USB cable to connect the camera to this computer.

Except for the nasty weather, all is well here.

Big day tomorrow!

Start spreadin' the word... Tomorrow its New York, New York.

We're bobbing at a mooring in Manhasset Bay, ready to dive into the East River. The timing of our passage vis a vis the current is critical. The fastest part of the East River is Hell's Gate, where the Haarlem River comes in, and has a 3-4 knot current, eastwards on the flood tide, westwards on the ebb. We'll be going west.

The current will be in my favor (ebbing) between about 5 am and 11 am tomorrow. So we need to get an early start, which is why we are here in Manhasset, within sight of the Throgs Neck Bridge, the eastern end of the East River.

We had an enjoyable 2 days in Northport Harbor, anchored 1/4 mile from the house I grew up in. Walking the old neighborhood was a time trip. The hills seemed smaller, plus the whole neighborhood has gone quite upscale. It was sort of a bummer that I couldn't legally land the dinghy anywhere near the old neighborhood as its all private property with private docks. The neighborhood assn. has its own dock and there I met resident Ed Thompson, who gave us permission to tie to that dock for our exploration. Thanks, Ed.

This morning we left the old neighborhood at sunrise, since we needed the high tide to get out of the head of Northport Harbor. After 1/2 hour we dropped anchor at Asharoken Beach for two beach runs and breakfast, then headed west in LI Sound. It was a 4-hour cruise, into stiff wind, to Manhasset. En route we had our first views of the Manhatten skyline.

At first light tomorrow (after a quick beach visit for Riggs), we head out, to pass under the Throgs Neck, Whitestone, Triborough, Manhatten, Brooklyn, and Verrazano bridges, and end up at Sandy Hook, NJ. I'll take a bunch of pictures.

Roll n Rock

This entry concerns last night's anchorage in Joshua Cove, which you may recall was exposed to some 1 ft. or so rollers from the SW. At first it wasn't so bad since the wind kept Spray sort of aligned with the waves, but then the wind disappeared, and Spray aligned herself beam-to the waves, which were of a period close to Spray's natural roll period.

So as I was trying to fall asleep, it went like this:

roll roll roll roll roll roll roll roll ROLL ROLL roll roll roll roll roll roll roll roll

and repeat. The big ROLLs were sliding things around in cabinets and making a racket, so it was impossible to sleep.

In the absence of wind, why did Spray align herself beam-to the waves? Here's my theory: If Spray is aligned bow-to or stern-to the waves, she rocks (fore and aft) rather than rolls, and her propeller moves up and down through the water. I think that produces a twist on her to turn her beam-to the waves. When she rolls (side to side) with the waves, there is no such propeller motion and no twist. So the stable postion for her is beam-to the waves.

So I got up and put my stern anchor in the dinghy, rowed it down-wave a hundred feet or so and dropped it in. Back on spray I tightened up on that stern line so Spray was forced to point directly into the oncoming waves. Now she rocked a bit but did not roll, and the rocking was quite tolerable.

The moral of the story? A little light rock makes for a better night than a hard roll.

On the move again

We spent 3 nights in lovely Essex CT, moored in front of Essex Yacht Club. After Monday's iPhone debacle, Tuesday was spent with my sister-in-law Connie. After lunch aboard Spray we went to the ATT store in nearby Old Saybrook and did a deal where I now have a 3G Aircard for my laptop computer,and a basic flip-phone for calls. Connie had to run to L.I. to visit her mother but my sister Marsha and her husband Dennis drove down for supper at the Black Seal in Essex (thanks guys!).

Wednesday started rainy and ended very windy, so cruising was postponed. Instead some boat chores, a few long walks around Essex (how can a 1 qt dog like Riggs pee out 2 qts of markers?), and finished with Connie picking us up for a hot shower and laundry, then a great Italian meal at Cafe Allegre in Madison (Grazie Connie).

Wednesday's big wind lasted all night and into this morning, so Riggs and I decided to delay departure until mid-day to allow things to calm down in L.I. Sound. The morning was productive in that I finally installed a depthfinder in the lower (salon) helm station. I tried something tricky which was to splice both upper and lower depthfinder cables to the same sonar transducer, with an on-off-on power switch that ensures that only one depthfinder is powered at a given time. Amazingly, it works pretty slick.

The bad side of waiting until mid-day to leave Essex is that we had to fight 1-2 knots of incoming current as we went down the CT river, and then had to fight a knot of east-flowing tidal current as we headed west in L.I. Sound. Spray is slow enough already. The good side of waiting is that the waves from the big winds of Wednesday had a chance to subside somewhat. It was a bit rough but the waves were on our nose and we only went about 15 miles to our present anchorage in Joshua Cove, just west of Guilford, CT. We're protected from the (dimishing) NW wind but there is still some 1 ft. rollers from the SW that are gonna make this a rolly night. Spray is the only boat in this large anchorage and we're surrounded by beautiful homes.

Tomorrow we'll get an early start, crossing the Sound with a destination of Northport Harbor, the body of water I grew-up on (well not actually grew-up but you get the idea).

Up the River

...the CT River that is.

Its been a while since I had proper internet access to post to the blog and much has transpired. I'll summarize quickly: From York Beach ME we had a long Thursday to end up in beautiful Cohasset MA (south of Boston). Mass Bay was kinda rough. Friday brought us to the Cape Cod Canal which, with a 3 knot tail-current, we whipped through in less than an hour (Spray making 10-11 knots over ground!), then on to anchor at Westport MA. Saturday was a downer for 3 reasons:

- Brother Steve disembarked so that he could travel to Germany on business

- The weather sucked (mucho wind, mucho rain)

- No travel accomplished (see above for reason)

Sunday was nice and Riggs and I motored in the sun for only a half-day to end up in Pt Judith Pond, RI. A nice anchorage, two nearby islands for Riggs to check out, and time to lower Spray's mast so the anchor light bulb could be replaced (took 3 hrs - that mast is heavy!).

Today was nice but there was a west wind that caused 3-4 ft chop against Spray's nose. Wasn't too bad so we pushed for Essex CT which is 3 miles up the CT river. My brother had arranged for a mooring at the Essex Yacht Club. We reached EYC against a strong river current and also wind and I was a little concerned about being able to grab the mooring without drifting back. That's probably why I sort of lunged at the pick-up buoy which caused my iPhone to leap from my shirt pocket into the aforementioned CT River. Its in 10 ft of water somewhere below Spray's bow (which is secured to aforementioned mooring).

If you have any idea what its gonna cost me to get a replacement iPhone or terminate my contract, then you understand what motivated me to don swim fins and mask and go diving in the murky brown current - alas to no avail. You can't see anything down there plus the current could have carried off the phone. Since I do have WiFi here I even emailed my buddy Ken and had him repeatedly call the iPhone, thinking I might hear it ring. Nope.

You readers may want to buy some ATT stock. They are gonna make some money off me.

I just took Riggs for a well deserved walk. Essex CT has to be one of the prettiest towns in the USA. The local church had just completed a 'blessing of the pets' service so Riggs got to meet many dogs (and goats too). I hope to meet my brother's better-half, Connie, tomorrow (if she'll check her email) and maybe visit an ATT store. It could get ugly.

Tentatively we continue westward in LI Sound on Wed. LI Sound is .... LONG!

At last! Some real distance!

Covered 62 nm today in just over 10 hours. Now anchored off York Beach which tucks behind Cape Neddick. Played chuck-it on the beach with Riggs which was his reward for being trapped on a bouncy boat all day. Early start tomorrow in hopes of reaching Scituate MA or nearby. Then through Cape Cod Canal on Friday.

Boothbay Harbor

Steve, Riggs and I left Castine yesterday at about 9 am and had an easy, sunny ride down Penobscot Bay to Rockland where we took on 140 gallons of diesel (Journey's End Marina - best price around), and ate take-out lobster rolls aboard Spray. We then left at about 2 pm and rounded Owls Head enroute to Tennant's Harbor. That run exposed us to the open ocean and, especially the last 6 miles or so, was a bit rough. Riggs was especially relieved to pull into TH at about 5 pm

We rented a mooring for the night and dinghied to shore for some exploration. Riggs sniffed 5,000 items, peed on 200, and filled one poop-bag. What a good boy! Steve and I decided to have dinner at the East Wind Inn so we took Riggs back to Spray for guard duty and then had a pretty good meal (Steve raved over the potato-encrusted haddock).

It was a rolly night at the mooring as ocean swells were creeping around the corner into TH. Riggs and I were up and on shore in the rain at 6 am today where he did has business with admirable efficiency, then back to Spray. By 6:50 we were headed out of the harbor drinking coffee and planning on breakfast.

Breakfast never happened. The run from Tennant's Harbor down the Maine Coast is quite exposed and our morning consisted of 4-6' swells (occasionally an 8 footer) from the south with 2-3' of chop on top of that. At first we took most of this on he nose so it wasn't too bad but later we headed more west and took the swells from the beam which makes things pretty rolly. Spray held up wonderfully but Steve, Riggs, and I were getting kind of green. So instead of making for our intended destination of Jewel Island in Casco Bay, we headed for our main bailout option, which is why we find ourselves in post-tourist-season Boothbay Harbor. We tied up at the town dock and had lunch 'on the wharf' (yep, lobster rolls again) and then moved to a rental mooring at Browns Wharf (which has WiFi allowing me to easily do this blog). We'll relax this afternoon (its 2 pm now- nap anyone?), then dinghy back over to the town dock for exploration of the downtown. Dinner tonight will be pasta aboard Spray.

As the week progresses the conditions are expected to get calmer, so tomorrow we hope to leave early. If we get ambitious we'll shoot for Kittery Maine but could bail out at Jewel Island, or possible Portland. Stay Tuned!

I was worried about this....

Its been so beautiful in Maine in September that I jokingly worried that we'd use up all the good weather by the time departure date arrived. Sure enough, while today is beautiful, the weather report for tomorrow shows rain plus a gale watch offshore. Rain alone wouldn't delay departure, but wind (and resulting waves) certainly could. As it stands now, we'll probably delay departure until Monday morning. It'll still be somewhat windy and bumpy (possibly all week) but not as bad as they say Sunday will be.

Another benefit of delaying departure is that the extra day will allow more time for the 100 small tasks I still have to do before departure.

I hear that my brother Steve, who is along for the first week of cruising, has found free dock space for Spray in Essex CT for a few days. If anyone out there wants to join Riggs and I for the next leg of the cruise (including NYC harbor!), Essex would be a handy location to come aboard. So please email or call me (cell=207-902-2000) if you are up for an adventure!

Here's something new. I've added a SPOT satellite tracker device to Spray. If you click on Spray's picture (above left) you'll see a Google map showing Spray's current and recent positions. Pretty cool technology!

Stay tuned for departure report. Expected first night's anchorage is Tennants Harbor, ME.

Leaving in one week!

If the weatherman agrees, I'll be departing Castine Sunday the 27th for points south, along with my brother Steve and dog Riggs.

The windlass is installed (came out pretty good, I think) and the new 35 gal. holding tank is also installed in place of the old 9 gal. tank. Of course I had measured to confirm that the new tank would fit in its alloted space but I hadn't thought about measuring the path to get the new tank into that space. Not a problem! All I had to do was unbolt an item or two from the engine, remove the hot-water tank, knock out a vertical wooden support, and PUSH. The new tank is now plumbed in place and I won't have to hit a pump-out station every 2nd day.

I still have many small items to attend to before leaving, including getting everything I expect to need on board Spray, and finding places to stow everything. But I'll be ready.

Here's hoping that the weather for travel south is at least half as nice as we've had here in Maine for the past several weeks. Its really been spectacular. I just hope all the good weather doesn't get used up.

Progress report

There are 2 1/2 weeks before I set sail (set diesel?) for points south. Its looking good for my brother Steve to be joining Riggs and I for the first week or so for travel from Maine to Steve's home waters of Long Island Sound (Connecticut shore). We can only hope for weather as nice as we've been having here lately.

I've been busy working on Spray. The windlass installation was a big job but it came out quite well. I removed the existing bow platform that supported the anchor roller, modified it and reinstalled it 15 inches lower, so that the anchor roller is now at deck height. I cut large holes in the bulwarks for the anchor rodes to pass through, directly to the windlass gypsy, which is mounted at deck level as it should be. Large holes were drilled in the foredeck for the windlass and a foot-operated switch, then power cabling was routed forward and, viola, the windlass now works!

Well....... sort of. My main anchor rode is currently 200' of 5/8" nylon line plus 26' of 3/8" chain. The windlass handles the chain well but is sized for 1/2" line, not 5/8", so I need to make some changes there.

I've also installed a large (size 8D, 160 lbs.!!) 12 volt battery as an addition to the existing 'house' battery. I built a shelf on the port side of the engine room to hold the new battery, and wired in a large switch to enable/disable the battery connection. The whole idea is to be able to run lights, refrig., etc. for longer time while at anchor.

Still to do: I've purchased a 35 gallon waste holding tank to replace the existing 9 gallon tank. Much of the ICW is designated as 'no discharge area' and I'll have to stop at marinas to pump out the waste. This larger tank will allow me to do this less often. I may have a problem with installing this larger tank because its quite a bit....LARGER than the tank it's replacing. I had of course measured the available space in the starboard engine room and verified that the new tank will fit there, but I hadn't really measured the size of the opening above the engine to see if I can route the tank down to its destination. It looks like its not gonna be easy.

Also still to do: Change engine oil & filter, fuel filters, check raw water system. I've bought the 3 gallons of engine oil I need, plus a hand-pump to remove the old oil (through the dipstick tube), so I'm ready to change the engine oil, maybe tomorrow.

Oh, and I've finally joined the dark side by buying a cell phone for the trip. Its an iPhone that will also give me internet access (for weather reports and other info), plus its built-in gps will be useful. My cell no. is 207-902-2000. Soon I'll use the iPhone to take a few pix of the recent work on Spray and upload those to this blog.

More later....